Recipe For Success: it’s an All Star Line Up!

Recipe For Success is back!

The Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2018 starts this week, running from 27th September – 8th October. We’re delighted to be staging our annual food and drink panel event again, as an official Fringe event. But this year is different – this year we’re out on the road! Our lovely friends at GrubMcr are opening the doors of the Fairfield Social Club especially for us. So come down , grab a drink and hear from our team of experts.

Another twist this year is that all of the panellists are nominees (or previous winners) in the Food & Drink Festival Awards. You’ll get the chance to ask them questions, pick up top tips, & learn the tricks of the trade.

On the panel:

Michael De Martiis – Co-owner of Sugo Pasta Kitchen, nominated in 3 of this years categories (Restaurant of The Year, Casual Restaurant of the Year and Out of Town Restaurant of the Year). Sugo have enjoyed 4 successful years serving their Southern Italian menu in Altrincham and have just opened a second site in the redeveloped Ancoats this June.

Chelsea Campbell – Owner of Vegan streetfood caterers Wholesome Junkies and star of the recent BBC TV show “Million Pound Menu”, Chelsea is nominated in this years Street Food Trader of the year category. Chelsea worked in the catering industry for eight years before setting up Wholesome Junkies in early 2017 with a mission to show that vegan food is not boring.

Jonny Heyes – Co-founder of Common which opened in the Northern Quarter in 2004, one of the pioneers of the areas resurgence. Jonny has since gone on to open Port Street Beer House (nominated for Pub of the Year), The Pilcrow Pub, The Beagle in Chorlton and runs the annual Independent Manchester Beer Convention held in the Grade II listed Victoria Baths, now in it’s 7th year.”

Aarti Pandey – winner of last year’s Best Street Food Vendor, Aarti owner of Chaat Cart made a name for herself with years of grafting at markets, festivals and at the Spinningfields start-up incubator The Kitchens before opening her permanent venue in Marple last Summer, nominated this year for Best Vegetarian Offering.

Food and drink start-ups have never been more popular. The opportunities to trade as pop-ups are growing all the time. Street food events company GrubMcr are a great example. They spend a lot of time supporting and mentoring new traders to ensure Manchester has the freshest lineup of grassroots food operators, and are fiercely passionate about supporting independent business.

There are lots of resources in libraries to help you research a food / drink business.
Last year the most popular report downloaded from COBRA was Starting A Cafe. The Top Ten also included Coffee Shop, Mobile Takeaway & Restaurant!

At the BIPC Manchester the Mintel reports can offer invaluable research into the market, and save you a small fortune. This month features a new report, Eating Out Review – UK, showing that although slightly less customers are dining out, the sector is likely to grow by £10 billion in the next five years.